In its last meeting for the Fall semester, the Board of Trustees appointed Ramez Maluf president of Azm University effective February 1, 2019, replacing Dr. Farid Chaaban. Dr. Chaaban,who led the university for two and a half years, has resumed his professorship at the American University of Beirut, from where he was on leave.
Dr. Maluf is a graduate of Duke University and holds a PhD in the History of Science from the University of Oklahoma. In 2014, he was named a “Distinguished Alumnus” of that institution. Prior to joining Azm University as Dean of Arts & Sciences, he was associated with the Lebanese American University where he headed the Communications Arts department for a number of years.
Dr. Maluf has had an extensive career in academia and in journalism, starting in Brazil where he was the editor in chief of Rio de Janeiro’s Brazil Herald. In Lebanon, he was the managing editor of The Daily Star during the war years, and a regular contributor to NPR, The International Herald Tribune, and The Washington Times. He was also chief editor of the Athens-based The Middle East Times, and of the Journal of Middle East Broadcasters. His articles have appeared in those publications as well as in Foreign Policy, The Irish Times, and The Daily Telegraph. His numerous scholarly articles have appeared in such prestigious journals as The Journal of European Communication.
Dr. Maluf co-authored the seminal work on the reconstruction of Beirut’s city center, Beirut Reborn, published by John Wiley and was also commissioned by Deloitte-Middle East to write that firm’s history, a job he completed in 2014. He has recently completed a book titled 50 Tripoli Lives published by Azm University. During his tenure as Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Azm, that faculty saw significant growth, and today hosts about half of the university students.
Dr. Maluf thanked the BOT for his appointment, saying he was looking forward to the new job with both excitement and apprehension. “Apprehension because I recognize the size of the responsibility, and because I will have to fill very large shoes. Dr. Farid Chaaban was a first-class leader, knowledgeable, committed, competent and very much appreciated by his staff.”
Excitement, he said, “because Azm University has great potential.” Dr. Maluf said he was fully confident that working with the other deans, and the very competent faculty and staff, that Azm University will be recognized as a first tier national institution, in line with the best, in just a few years.
To read Dr. Maluf’s letter to the Azm University community, click here.